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March 09, 2008
When is a Wiki not a Wiki? When it's Google Sites
The web is all a buzz about Google's newest application, Google Sites. Google Sites is an adaptation of Jotspot, a wiki web provider that Google purchased over a year ago, and is now part of Google Apps.
Why aren't they calling it a wiki? Google Sites can be the basis for an intranet, a personal web space or an external web site. Wikis can be all of these things, too, but people decidedly lack imagination, and might pigeon-hole
a wiki app as a Wikipedia-type knowledgebase. While wikis are essentially an easy way to create a web site, for some, the label could be limiting. Google is aiming this at the general public, and by the way, not everyone knows what a wiki is! Anyway, that's just my guess as to the motivation, and I think it makes sense.
What I'm really liking is idea of 10 gigabytes of file storage. I've been on the lookout for a central location to store files of all kinds, including spreadsheets and pdfs, relating to our dog club. I've thought of using a wiki, but there's a limitation to the amount of space that is offered for free. Google has never been one to be stingy with storage space. So I plan to experiment with it sometime soon. And I'll bet our members won't mind at all that it's not called a wiki. :-)
Besides, apparently Google's eye is also on the enterprise market, with Sharepoint as the competition. So while Google Sites may resemble a wiki now, they obviously want it to become much more.
For more information see:
Let the Battle Begin: Google Apps Versus Microsoft SharePoint
The nasty four-letter word that must be banished from the web
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